I drive to visit my brother 400 miles away regularly. That's Phoenix to Los Angeles. There are multiple chargers on the way, and they are very fast. Unless I'm towing the trailer, the stop is around 12-15 minutes. By the time I've taken a leak, bought a drink and food, the usual, the charge is about done. Before buying the Tesla I pretended to be a Tesla using my previous vehicle. I figured out that chargers are everywhere I want to be, and that I take 15 minutes on a stop, not the 5 I thought I did.
But unlike ICE...
I can charge at his house and leave full again.
The car can charge while I have lunch, and be full, often at no cost.
Back when I had an office...I could charge there, no cost.
I often meet him at a spot in the desert to camp and ride, and guess what....free charging at the RV park (paying for the RV slot of course). I leave full. He goes to the gas station.
I drive to Vegas a few times a year. Stop to charge, eat lunch, it's nearly full when I'm done (paid for however, about $8-10). The friend I visit there drives to see me, pays $40 in gas. Not to mention the overall added maintenance cost that's hidden.
Insurance dropped by 35% since it's a far safer car than most others.
I arrive there refreshed, no cares, no stress. I used to get there tired and it's always been a running joke that when we see each other, "I'm ready for a fucking drink. So this idiot on the road did...."
Overall I had no idea what to expect going into it. I was motivated by the numbers I could do on cost, and even more so by the fact that the wife's BMW was out of warranty and you know that a BMW is just a ticking time bomb of $10k repairs. We traded that for the Tesla. And then.....I never drove the truck that I previously was very much in love with. I'm not a car guy. I've never owned a sedan before, ever. And there's just no way you can make me drive a low-tech car ever again. I sold the truck.
Give up mate, you can't educate pork.
I too have a Tesla and it's easily the best car I've ever had. I know several others with them as well and they all say the same thing.
Faster than many Ferraris but costs less to run than a 1 litre hatchback? Yes please!
The problem is that people have been sucking down oil propaganda for decades and still believe that tosh.
Apparently electric cars are soulless because there's not a knob on the centre console (and in the driver's seat) to waggle around as you drive. Or because they don't make a noise. The truth being that most people prefer autos anyway as evidenced by the death of manuals in favour of flappy paddle gearboxes and most modern cars including performance models make drab noises that aren't worth hearing.
The funny thing is that if we'd had electric cars for decades and everyone was used to them, there's zero chance that anyone would buy an ICE if they were the new option.
"Hey, do you wanna pay 10x the price to fuel your car? A car that spews toxic gases into the air around you? A car that's slower and noisier than your old one and is rarely in the power band? That needs regular expensive servicing to keep it going? That's contributing to climate change?"
"No, you say?"
"Did I mention that it has a funny stick in the centre console that you can waggle around whilst you drive? And an extra pedal so your left foot doesn't feel left out?"
"Still no? Hmm, go figure. What about if I told you it has a soul? Why? Oh because of the waggly stick thing and that noise that comes out of the toxic fume hole."
"What do you mean leave you alone?"
Just ignore the nay sayers whilst they catch up. They say you're dull if you mention the virtues of an electric car, then ask them what gives their car a "soul" and makes it less boring and prepare to be bored to death by their nerdy answer trying to justify their purchase.
And no, I'm not a Tesla fan boy, I like to think I'm objective about products that I have.
Myself and my colleague refer to our Teslas as "the best worst cars we've ever had".
Panel alignment is pretty dire, albeit it's much better on the newer cars. Also Tesla show their lack of experience in other ways, like if you open the boot of my car it dumps any rainwater on the rear window, which then slides straight into the boot because there isn't a big enough rain channel to catch it. Derp.
Or how the rear bumper is nice and flush without the usual lip that most cars have... Which is great until you get into a light rear ender which destroys the bootlid because it's basically flush with the rear bumper.
But then bizarrely they do some things way better than legacy automakers can manage. Like the hill hold assist. It works perfectly. Way better than on any other car I've ever had. And the infotainment/software/electronic stuff, though it hasn't changed a great deal since I got the car 4.5 years ago, it's still light years ahead of most other car companies, who all say you can do OTA updates then call you into the dealership at the first sniff of a software glitch.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents.
Would I have another Tesla, absolutely. Despite the flaws, there's still very little else that comes close to it, and newer ones are built better anyway. Will I get another one next time? I'm not sure. There are other great cars coming onto the market and I'm not the sort of person that just blindly sticks with one brand.
Would I go back to an ICE? No, not unless I won the lottery and was able to afford something properly exotic with some actual drama. And even then, my daily would still be an EV.
